The South Chicago community — a neighborhood that has been defined by disinvestment and its faded industrial past for far too long — might have finally taken a big step Wednesday toward a bright new future.
The City Council approved rezoning of the 400-acre former U.S. Steel South Works site at 79th Street and Lake Michigan, in order to build the multi billion-dollar Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park, which will take up 128 acres.
Gov. JB Pritzker pushed to create the big tech park that will be financially backed by $500 million in state funding. Cook County is chipping money in with about $175 million in tax breaks over the course of 30 years, and the city is kicking in $5 million.
The campus will be anchored by PsiQuantum, a Silicon Valley company founded in 2015 with the goal of building the first utility-scale quantum computer. A group led by the University of Illinois, the University of Chicago, and Northwestern University will manage the effort.
Construction of the campus is expected to begin early next year.
And if promises are kept, the result will turn South Works’s fallow ground into a jobs-rich center where powerful quantum computing is done, with the potential to create new medicines and new materials, enhance voting security, optimize transportation systems and power distribution, and more.
Quantum computers have the ability “to solve problems conventional computers can’t solve,” as PsiQuantum co-founder Peter Shadbolt told the Sun-Times Editorial Board.
Faster computing via a transformational project
Quantum represents a new frontier in computing, using qubits (or “quantum bits”) rather than binary strings of electronic 0’s and 1’s that power current conventional and supercomputers.
Qubits can hold and handle significantly more information than can binary systems, making larger and more complex calculations possible. Quantum computers can do the advanced math needed to create new medical drugs faster, or even better chase down elaborate financial fraud schemes.
But in order for a qubit to hold its information and keep it free of errors, quantum computer processors must be kept in ultra-extreme cold: 460 degrees below zero Fahrenheit, hence the need for a large, specialized facility such as the one now approved for South Works.
A project this large — and that moves through the public approval process as fast as this one has — is bound to raise questions and eyebrows.
Some residents of the South Chicago neighborhood feel their concerns weren’t fully addressed in public meetings about the project. A list of dozens of local business owners, residents, educators and activists, however, submitted a letter of support to the City Council Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards. Those involved in the project note that four major community meetings were held on the project, along with additional smaller meetings.
Other folks questioned if the new campus will cut off the public’s access to the existing lakeside parks and public areas on the site — officials say it won’t.
We also wondered if the Southeast Side’s electrical grid can supply the massive amounts of electrical power needed to run the campus — officials told us that a new electrical substation would be built in the site to handle power needs.
It was also good to hear campus officials say the facility won’t draw water directly from the lake, and won’t discharge used water back into the city’s natural marvel. Businesses that want to utilize quantum computing have reached out to work with PsiQuantum here, as well.
Partnerships with local schools are planned, and many of the eventual jobs will not require advanced degrees.
As the project comes to fruition, the state and campus officials must continue working to make sure the community’s voices are heard and needs are met in this process.
Done the right way, with the benefits shared with the South Chicago community — that means jobs, business opportunities and remaining mindful of the environment —the campus can be a national model showing how a community can be revitalized.
It’s ambitious, and quantum computing still has a long road ahead to become commercially viable, but it’s worth aiming for.
“Our vision of Illinois as a global quantum capital comes further into focus at Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park, providing limitless opportunities for economic investment and innovation right here on the South Side,” Pritzker said when plans for campus were announced last July.
South Works has been the target of more than a few failed redevelopment plans since the land was cleared after the mill went silent 30 years ago.
The site and the community deserve better. And the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park has the potential to make something good finally happen there.
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